Cobweb cut-out



June 20, 1939. A, D, N RQQS 2,162,896

COBWEB CUT-OUT Filed March 14. 1938 INVENTOR. flrlduu'fl- Nara-09y, BY

Patented June 20, 1939 UNITED STATES GOBWEB CUT- O'U T Arthur D'. Norcross, New York, N. Y., assignor to Norcross, New York, N. Y., a. partnership composed of Arthur D. Norcross and June Norcross Webster Application March 14,

2 Claims.

This invention relates to greeting cards and more particularly to a greeting card in which the sentiment or greeting may be effectively expressed in an especially Striking fashion.

It is a well established custom to mark the approach of holidays, such as, for example, St. Valentines day, by means of greeting cards on which an appropriate sentiment is expressed. These cards have become more or less standardized with the passing of the years and usually comprise a folder of a suitable type, on the front of which a design appropriate to the period being celebrated is usually printed. The sentiment may be printed on the front of the cover and usually a short poem commemorative of the occasion is written on the inner leaf of the folder. Cards of this type have been in use for so long a period that they have lost the original novelty which they possessed and although considerable care may be exercised in their selection, unfortunately they often do not greatly impress the person receiving them.

An object of this invention, accordingly, is to provide a greeting card in which the sentiment may be expressed in a novel and striking fashion.

A further object of the invention is toprovide a greeting card of the above character in which a portion of the expression of sentiment may be normally concealed from view.

Another object of the invention is to provide a card of the above character in which the concealed personal message may be discovered by the person receiving the card in an unusual and surprising manner.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the front face of the card is provided with a number of slits arranged in orderly fashion, which cooperate to provide a novel cobweb cutout construction as is described in greater detail below. A cord or other similar means is secured in the central portion of the slitted area, by means of which it may be expanded to provide an open lattice structure through which a concealed expression of sentiment may be viewed. Some suitable design, such as, for example, a colored flower may be printed on the front of the card to disguise the presence of the cobweb cutout construction. Thus, the person receiving a card of this type, becoming curious as to the purpose of the cord in the central portion of the card and drawing the cord outwardly, may discover the personal message printed beneath, much to his surprise and delight.

Other objects of the invention will be appar- 1938, Serial N0. 195,668

ent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a partial view in elevation of a greeting card constructed in accordance with this invention, the pictorial representation being omitted to clearly show the serrations,

Figure 2 is a view in section taken alongline 2-2 of Figure 1 looking in the direction of the arrows, showing the cobweb cutout construction in the normal unexpanded position and illustrating the manner in which the cord is secured to the under surface of the card face;

Figure 3 is also a view in section similar to Figure 2 showing the cobweb cutout construction in the expanded position in which a message on the lower leaf of the card may be viewed;

Figure 4 is a modified form of greeting card showing an alternative manner of forming the slits in the card face, the pictorial representation being omitted to clearly show the serrations, and

Figure 5 is a face view of the card with a pictorial representation shown thereon.

Referring to the drawing, greeting card is shown at iii formed from a single sheet of material which is folded over to provide the front and.

rear leaves I! and 52, respectively. As shown in Figure 1, a portion of the front face of the card II is perforated by a plurality of staggered angular slits which are so disposed with respect to each other that they form concentric discontinuous polygons, as for example. the polygons i3 and M. It will be noted that the vertices of the angular slits of alternate polygons lie on radial line, and they are spaced by the unsiit p rtion between two adjacent slits of the intervening polygon. For example, the unslit portion 85 of the polygon M lies between the vertices of the two slits l6 and I? of the polygons l8 and i3, respectively. This construction provides a number of interconnected concentric strips which present an appearance quite similar to a cobweb. In an actual card, a large flower or some other suitable design may be printed over the slitted area to disguise it from the eyes of the casual observer.

The central portion E9 of the card I0 is not slitted but is provided with a small hole through which a cord 28 may be inserted. The lower portion 2! of the cord 29 is bent over against the under surface of the front leaf 1 l and is held in place by a circular piece of material 22 which is secured to the under face of the leaf I! with a suitable adhesive. Thus, by raising the cord 20 in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the card in, the cutout area may be expanded as shown in Figure 3, to form a lattice like structure of interconnected strips.

To the under surface of the leaf l i a sheet 23 of paper, or other similar material, is secured, on which an expression of sentiment of a personal nature may be printed as represented in Figure 1 by dotted lines. This personal message may be viewed through the open spaces formed when the cobweb cutout construction is expanded, as described above. If desired, however, the sheet 23 may be eliminated, in which case the personal message may be printed on the inner leaf I2, and may be viewed when the cobweb cutout construction is expanded.

The slitted portions may be formed in a wide variety of designs and each difierent design will usually produce a correspondingly different shape when the cobweb cutout construction is expanded. For example, as shown in Figure 4, the cobweb cutout construction is formed by a plurality of slits which are arranged to form a number of discontinuous concentric circles. As described above for the polygon construction, these slits are staggered so that the unslit portion 24, for example, lies adjacent the vertex of the slit 25, and a mimber of interconnected strips are formed which may be expanded by means of the cord 20 to give an appearance similar to that shown in Figure 3.

Obviously, the cutout construction described above may be used on all of the different types of cards now in use and it is not intended to be limited to the embodiment described herein. Furthermore, the cobweb cutout construction may be used in a wide variety of other applications of a similar nature and it is to be understood that all such uses are to be considered as within the scope of the present invention.

From the foregoing it is evident that this invention provides a greeting card in which the expression of sentiment may be presented in a novel and unusual fashion. The construction whereby an observer may inadvertently discover the personal message temporarily concealed beneath the cobweb cutout construction serves to provide an elemerit of pleasant surprise which makes a very favorable and distinct impression on the person receiving the card.

While a specific embodiment has been described above, the invention is not intended to be limited in any way thereby, except as described in the following claims.

I claim 1. A greeting card comprising a sheet of material having a plurality of interrupted concentric slits therein forming an area of interconnected strips, and a finger pull secured to said sheet centrally of said slits whereby said strips may be expanded and moved uniformly from the surface of said sheet.

2. A greeting card comprising a sheet of material having a plurality of interrupted concentric slits therein forming an area of interconnected strips, capable of being moved out of the plane of the sheet, said strips having imprinted thereon 8 parts of a pictorial representation in such relationship as to present a unitary design concealing the slits when the strips are disposed in the same plane with said sheet.

ARTHUR D. NORCROSS. 

